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Addiction experts think drinkers can change behavior without getting help

Seventy years ago, Bill Wilson — the co-founder of Alcoholics Anonymous — declared his powerlessness over alcohol. The failed businessman contended that, as an alcoholic, he had to "hit bottom" before changing his life and that sobriety could only be achieved through complete abstention.

For generations, Americans took these tenets to be true for everyone. Top addiction experts are no longer sure.

They now say that many drinkers can evaluate their habits and — using new knowledge about genetic and behavioral risks of addiction — change those habits if necessary. Even some people who have what are now termed alcohol-use disorders, they add, can cut back on consumption before it disrupts education, ruins careers and damages health.

In short, say some of the nation's leading scientists studying substance abuse, humans travel a long road before they become powerless over alcohol — and most never reach that point.

"We're on the cusp of some major advances in how we conceptualize alcoholism," says Dr. Mark Willenbring, director of treatment and recovery research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. The institute is the nation's leading authority on alcoholism and the major provider of funds for alcohol research. "The focus now is on the large group of people who are not yet dependent. But they are at risk for developing dependence." Many of these people need not give up alcohol altogether. The concept of so-called controlled drinking — that people with alcohol-use disorders could simply curb, or control, their drinking — has existed for many years. Evidence now exists that such an approach is possible for some people, although abstinence is still considered necessary for those with the most severe disease.

The overall reassessment has been fueled by the groundbreaking National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions, the largest and most comprehensive look at alcohol use in America. The project surveyed 43,000 people 18 and older in 2001 and 2002, and again in 2004 and 2005, with the results released in increments beginning in 2006.

This survey alone has been enough to convince even national addiction experts that they've been too narrow in their approach to alcohol disorders. But the findings are being further bolstered by research in genetics and psychology.

Perhaps the most remarkable finding of the epidemiologic study was how many Americans experienced an alcohol-use disorder (either abuse or the more severe dependence) at some point — and how many recovered on their own. About 30 percent of Americans had experienced a disorder, the research showed, but about 70 percent of those quit drinking or cut back to safe consumption patterns without treatment after four years or less.

The data suggest that there are two forms of alcohol disorders: one that fits the traditional view of alcoholism, in which the need for a drink takes over a person's life, and a time-limited form in which people drink heavily for a period but then cut down and recover.

"It can be a chronic, relapsing disease. But it isn't usually that," Willenbring says.

Alcohol abuse is defined as use that repeatedly contributes, within a 12-month period, to the risk of bodily harm, relationship troubles, problems in meeting obligations and run-ins with the law. Alcoholdependence includes the same symptoms, plus the inability to limit or stop drinking; the need for more alcohol to achieve the same effect; the presence of withdrawal symptoms; and a consumption level that takes increasing amounts of time.

"People with mild to moderate alcohol disorders can be treated with medications or behavioral therapy with a primary care doctor," he said. "But many people can do this on their own without having a professional. The idea is teaching people how to re-evaluate their drinking." - Risk predictors There are clues that can presage alcohol problems — and should be taken into account when people assess their alcohol consumption:

# Young age at first drink. Perhaps because of changes in the still-developing brain and because they associate with peers who are also heavy drinkers, people who drink at age 15 or younger are at particularly high risk of developing an alcohol problem.

# Flushing reaction to alcohol. Some people carry a gene mutation — ALDH2 — that affects alcohol metabolism and causes them to turn red when they drink.

# Low sensitivity to alcohol. Some people need to drink more to feel an effect compared with the typical person — often referred to as the ability to "drink everyone else under the table.''

# Specific gene mutations. They include a mutation of the 5HTT gene, which is linked to low serotonin levels in the brain and is found in 60 percent of people who were alcoholics at age 40.

# The presence of behavioral, emotional or psychiatric disorders — or smoking dependence.

Any of these should help people gauge their personal risk, experts say.

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These newer views on addiction as being less of disease and more of a behavioral issue I think are very encouraging. The prevailing concept that substances are things under which persons are powerless has not provided us with much success in the treatment of those who are dependant.

I am always pleased to see people exploring newer views on addiction, especially views the put more power in the hands of the addicted.

Most people who adhere to the tenets of Alcoholics Anonymous believe that total abstinence from drinking is the only route to recovery, but some addiction experts say that many drinkers can successfully curtail their dangerous drinking without giving up alcohol completely, the Los Angeles Times reported Nov. 16.

"We're on the cusp of some major advances in how we conceptualize alcoholism," said Mark Willenbring, director of treatment and recovery research at the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism. "The focus now is on the large group of people who are not yet dependent. But they are at risk for developing dependence."

Abstinence remains the best course for the profoundly addicted, but those who have not hit "rock bottom" may be able to control their drinking, experts said. The National Epidemiologic Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions has shown that 30 percent of Americans have experienced an alcohol disorder, but 70 percent of them either quit drinking on their own or cut their drinking back to safer levels.

"It can be a chronic, relapsing disease. But it isn't usually that," Willenbring said.

"For a long time there was an emphasis on alcoholism as if it were one thing," said USC addiction researcher Carol Prescott. "I think that has been abandoned. People with alcohol-related problems don't all look the same at all. Some people only have problems for a short time. Others develop disorders that are ultimately fatal to them."

"People with mild to moderate alcohol disorders can be treated with medications or behavioral therapy with a primary care doctor," said Willenbring. "But many people can do this on their own without having a professional. The idea is teaching people how to reevaluate their drinking."

"It's a safer prescription to tell someone to quit," said Prescott. "But the studies suggest that a large proportion of people are able to cut down and aren't out-of-control."